110 HCON 400 IH: Expressing the support of the Congress
U.S. House of Representatives
2008-07-31
text/xml
EN
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Whereas women are the health care decision-makers for
themselves and their families;
Whereas women want affordable health care they can count
on throughout life transitions: starting a family, job changes, part-time and
full-time work, divorce, caring for an elderly or sick family member, having a
major disease, retiring;
Whereas women with good health coverage worry about
keeping their coverage and their providers;
Whereas women are more likely to seek essential preventive
and routine care, are more likely to have a chronic health condition, and are
more likely to take a prescription drug on a daily basis;
Whereas women pay 68 percent more than men for
out-of-pocket medical costs, due in large part to reproductive health care
needs;
Whereas more than half of the underinsured (53 percent)
and two-thirds of the uninsured (68 percent) forgo needed care and about half
of the underinsured (45 percent) and uninsured (51 percent) report difficulty
paying medical bills;
Whereas in 2004, one in six women with individual coverage
reported postponing or going without needed care because she could not afford
it;
Whereas high-deductible health plans are often targeted to
young women as an inexpensive health coverage option, but fail to cover
pregnancy-related care, the most expensive health event most young families
face and the leading cause for hospital stays;
Whereas 75,000,000 adults (42 percent of the under-65
population) had either no insurance or inadequate insurance in 2007, up from 35
percent in 2003;
Whereas 47,000,000 people, nearly 16 percent of the United
States population are uninsured, including 17,000,000 adult women ages 18–64
(18 percent) and 9,000,000 children (12 percent);
Whereas the Institute of Medicine estimated that lack of
health insurance coverage resulted in 18,000 excess deaths in the United States
in 2000 (a number which the Urban Institute estimates grew to 22,000 by 2006)
and that acquiring health insurance reduces mortality rates for the uninsured
by 10 to 15 percent;
Whereas uninsured women with breast cancer are 30 to 50
percent more likely to die from the disease, and uninsured women are 3 times
less likely to have had a Pap test in the last three years, with a 60 percent
greater risk of late-stage cervical cancer;
Whereas 13 percent of all pregnant women are uninsured,
making them less likely to seek prenatal care in the first trimester and to
receive the optimal number of visits during their pregnancy and 31 percent more
likely to experience an adverse health outcome after giving birth;
Whereas the lack or inadequate use of prenatal care is
associated with pregnancy-related mortality 2 to 3 times higher and infant
mortality 6 times higher than that of women receiving early prenatal care, as
well as increased risk of low birth weight and preterm birth;
Whereas heart disease is the leading cause of death for
both women and men, but women are less likely to receive lifestyle counseling,
diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and cardiac rehabilitation and more
likely to die or have a second heart attack, demonstrating inequalities in
access to care;
Whereas health care disparities persist, leaving Hispanic
and Native American women and children 3 times and African-Americans nearly
twice as likely to be uninsured than non-Hispanic whites;
Whereas in 2005, nearly 80 percent of the female
population with HIV was black or Hispanic and HIV/AIDS incidence rates are
dramatically higher for black and Hispanic women and adolescents (60.2 and 15.8
per 100,000, respectively) than for white women and adolescents (3.0 per
100,000);
Whereas women are less likely than men to be insured
through their jobs and more likely to be insured as a dependent, making them
more vulnerable to insurance loss in the event of divorce or death of a
spouse;
Whereas 64 percent of uninsured women are in families with
at least one adult working full-time;
Whereas health care costs are increasingly unaffordable
for working families and employers, with employer-sponsored health insurance
premiums increasing 87 percent since 2000;
Whereas America’s 9,100,000 women-owned businesses employ
27,500,000 people, contribute $3,600,000,000,000 to the economy, and face
serious obstacles in obtaining affordable health coverage,
Whereas the lack of affordable health coverage creates
barriers for women who want to change jobs or create their own small
businesses;
Whereas health care professionals and workers—a
significant portion of whom are women—have a stake in achieving reform that
allows them to provide the highest quality care for their patients;
Whereas 56 percent of all caregivers are women;
Whereas although the United States spends twice as much on
health care as the median industrialized nation, the Nation’s health care
system ranks near the bottom on most measures of health status among the 30
developed nations of the OECD and 37th in overall health performance among 191
nations; and
Whereas the Institute of Medicine estimates that the cost
of achieving full insurance coverage in the United States would be less than
the loss in economic productivity from existing coverage gaps: Now, therefore,
be it
That the Congress commits to pass, and
urges the President sign into law, within the next 18 months, legislation that
guarantees health care for women and health care for all and that—
(1)recognizes the
special role that women play as health care consumers, caregivers, and
providers;
(2)guarantees
inclusion of health care benefits essential to achieving and maintaining good
health, including comprehensive reproductive health, pregnancy-related, and
infant care;
(3)promotes primary
and preventive care, including family planning, contraceptive equity, and care
continuity;
(4)provides a choice
of public and private plans and direct access to a choice of doctors and health
care providers to ensure continuity of coverage and a delivery system that
meets the need of women;
(5)eliminates health
disparities in coverage, treatment, and outcomes on the basis of gender,
culture, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, health status, and sexual
orientation;
(6)shares
responsibility for financing among employers, individuals, and the Government
while taking into account the needs of small businesses;
(7)ensures that
access to health care is affordable;
(8)enhances quality
and patient safety;
(9)ensures a
sufficient supply of qualified providers through expanded medical and public
health education and adequate reimbursement; and
(10)promotes
administration efficiency, reduces unnecessary paperwork, and is easy for
health care consumers and providers to utilize.